Virginia Monument is a contributing feature to the Gettysburg National Military Park Historic District which is nationally significant under NR Criteria A, B, C & D. Areas of Significance: Military, Politics/Government, Landscape Architecture, Conservation, Archeology-Historic. Period of Significance: 1863-1938. The original National Register Nomination was approved by the Keeper March 19, 1975. An update to this nomination was approved by the Keeper on January 23, 2004.

Gettysburg National Military Park has recognized dual significance under National Register Criteria A and B because for many Americans, much of the meaning of the Civil War is represented in the small town of Gettysburg and is defined by Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address delivered here on November 19, 1863. Gettysburg National Military Park has national significance under National Register Criterion C as an important example of designed, commemorative battlefield park. There are still research questions related to the battle that can be answered through analysis of the archeological data, which has not yet been systematically gathered; therefore, this district also meets National Register Criteria D.

Gettysburg National Military Park is the site of the American Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery and the commemoration of the great battle by civil War veterans. Significant sites on the battlefield began to be preserved almost immediately after the 1863 battle, and the park came under federal ownership in 1895. Administered by the National Park Service (NPS) since 1933, the park now incorporates 5,989 acres of land across which the battle, its aftermath and commemoration occurred.

Civilians and military participants shared their own unique vision of preserving those battlegrounds outside of the cemetery as a means to commemorate the battle and to testify to the survival and supremacy of the Union. In 1864, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted a charter to the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association to undertake those purposes. In 1893, the United States Congress initiated measures that would expand the scope of preservation activities to include Confederate positions. These early efforts eventually led to the establishment of a national military park at Gettysburg in 1895. The original administrators of these national military parks regarded Gettysburg as the most significant of the battlefields commemorating the Civil War in the Eastern Theater of operations. In 1896, the United States Supreme Court agreed that Government preservation and protection of the memorial tradition promoted by the veterans, endorsed and generously funded by a grateful people, and formalized by a lasting national park, ultimately elevated Gettysburg’s battle to the position of the defining and quintessential Civil War event. (It was no coincidence that the national organizations of Civil War veterans selected the battle anniversary of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg battlefield for their landmark 50th reunion in 1913.) Veterans of the battle (including among its foremost proponents and designers Daniel E. Sickles, John P. Nicholson, and E. B. Cope) oversaw the memorial process and the development of the park until 1927 when the last of these men died. The commemorative aspect of the national park was best reflected in its designed landscape elements, including monumentation and formal drives and avenues. This designed aspect of the battlefield Park meets National Register Criterion C. Subsequent non-Civil War-veteran administrators did not share the memorial fervor embraced by those who participated in and survived the war. Therefore, the significant dates for Gettysburg fall between 1863 and 1938

Monument is a bronze equestrian statue of General Robert E. Lee that is fourteen foot high atop a granite pedestal that is 13.7x10 foot and 14 feet high. There is a bronze group of six standing figures that are eight foot high and a mounted standard bearer on a sculptured bronze base that is 18x5 foot. The monument is inscribed "Virginia to her Sons at Gettysburg". Overall the monument is 41 feet high. Designed and sculptured by F. William Sievers. Associated with Monument are two War Dept Signs. The monument is located on the east side of West Confederate Avenue, near Spangler Woods.